Too creepy for kids?

Caption'Wild Things' indeed

Matt Nettheim / Warner Bros.

By Denise Martin, Patrick Kevin Day and Jevon Phillips, Times Staff Writers There were only 10 lines of text in Maurice Sendak's classic "Where the Wild Things Are" book, but it is still one of the most beloved children's tales ever. There was, though, always a tinge of menace to the creatures...

By Denise Martin, Patrick Kevin Day and Jevon Phillips, Times Staff Writers There were only 10 lines of text in Maurice Sendak's classic "Where the Wild Things Are" book, but it is still one of the most beloved children's tales ever. There was, though, always a tinge of menace to the creatures... (Matt Nettheim / Warner Bros.)

It's fun and exciting when a portal to another world opens up and 11-year-old Coraline Jones finds her fun "other" mother and father give her the attention she craves. The only catch: She's gotta sew big black buttons over her eyes. With needle and thread! Certainly enough to give "Coraline's"...

It's fun and exciting when a portal to another world opens up and 11-year-old Coraline Jones finds her fun "other" mother and father give her the attention she craves. The only catch: She's gotta sew big black buttons over her eyes. With needle and thread! Certainly enough to give "Coraline's"... (LAIKA Entertainment)

The hero of this stop-motion animated film? Only a skeleton who plots to abduct Santa Claus and wants Halloween to stage a hostile takeover of Christmas. And then things get weird -- and spooky -- when a boogeyman-like monster starts torturing the man in red. Oh, and there's also a really cute...

The hero of this stop-motion animated film? Only a skeleton who plots to abduct Santa Claus and wants Halloween to stage a hostile takeover of Christmas. And then things get weird -- and spooky -- when a boogeyman-like monster starts torturing the man in red. Oh, and there's also a really cute... (Disney Enterprises)

Oh you think Gizmo is cute and cuddly, but then you accidentally spill some water on him, or turn the light on, and boom! He's spawned a bunch of slimy, cackling, murderous gargoyles that make you want to cry for mommy.

Oh you think Gizmo is cute and cuddly, but then you accidentally spill some water on him, or turn the light on, and boom! He's spawned a bunch of slimy, cackling, murderous gargoyles that make you want to cry for mommy. (Warner Bros.)

Four words: "Night on Bald Mountain." When we were little, we didn't understand why we were being subjected to the arty kids' movie "Fantasia," which near its end, featured Modest Mussorgsky 's haunting score set to images of Chernabog and his dancing demons. Years later, we're still disturbed....

Four words: "Night on Bald Mountain." When we were little, we didn't understand why we were being subjected to the arty kids' movie "Fantasia," which near its end, featured Modest Mussorgsky 's haunting score set to images of Chernabog and his dancing demons. Years later, we're still disturbed.... (Disney Enterprises)